Opposition parties to turn to top court over planned sale of state land

Budapest, October 13 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists, LMP and Jobbik parties will file a complaint to the Constitutional Court over the government’s planned sale of state-owned land, a Socialist lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The complaint was initiated by radical nationalist Jobbik and signed by the Socialists and the green LMP party.

The initiative, which requires the signatures of 50 lawmakers to be considered, aims to have the Constitutional Court declare the sale illegal based on the law regulating national assets, Gabor Harangozo, the deputy head of parliament’s agricultural committee, told a press conference.

Selling state land requires a change to the law rather than a government decree, he said.

Zsolt Legeny, another Socialist lawmaker, said that should the initiative fail, the Socialists will propose setting up an ad-hoc committee to ensure parliamentary oversight of land sales.

The state plans to sell 300,000-380,000 hectares with strict rules governing the sale, such as prohibiting the sale of protected nature reserves and forests but allowing the sale of orchards, plough lands or grasslands. Moreover, land can only be sold to local Hungarian farmers. Public auctioning will start in mid-November, the farm minister said last week.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters